


Books and Coffee

by theimprobable1



Series: Of Knights and Pilots [3]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-05
Updated: 2012-03-05
Packaged: 2017-11-01 12:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/357034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theimprobable1/pseuds/theimprobable1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Carolyn most certainly <i>doesn't</i> spy on Martin and his date, since she has no interest whatsoever in her employees' personal lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Books and Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my lovely beta chess_ka for making this readable.

As she put _Opera for Dummies_ back on the shelf Carolyn chided herself for touching it, for thinking even for a second that she would buy it. She didn’t care about the opera! She had absolutely no reason to take the tiniest interest in it. No reason at all.

She also had no reason to be spending ages in a bookshop, getting distracted by useless books while she attempted to choose a gift for an irritating pilot who was so full of himself that he didn’t even _deserve_ presents from her.

A picture of a fluffy animal caught her eye. _Beautiful Sheep_ , the book was called. Well, that certainly looked like the perfect birthday present for Herc. She picked it up to flip through it.

“Mum?”

Carolyn sighed inwardly. Whatever had possessed her to think it was a good idea to go shopping with Arthur?

“Yes, Arthur?” If he was going to show her another comic book, she was seriously going to punch someone.

“Did you know that Skip’s gay?”

Bless Arthur and his illogical mental processes.

“Just because he has an abysmal track record with women doesn’t mean he’s gay. It just means he’s a colossal berk and no woman in her right mind wants to spend more than twenty minutes in his company.”

“No!” Arthur said excitedly. “He’s in the café across the street with a man! And they look sort of… couple-y.”

Arthur must have been imagining things again. Martin Crieff on a date? Impossible! It would be easier to believe Douglas announcing that he found smuggling morally wrong. But it _was_ Martin, she had to concede when Arthur dragged her to the shop window. She’d recognise that bright mop of hair anywhere. He and a young man Carolyn found vaguely familiar but couldn’t place were sitting at a small table outside the café, and they appeared to be holding hands.

“That’s brilliant, isn’t it?” Arthur said. “Can we go see them and say hi?”

“Most certainly not,” Carolyn said briskly and shoved _Beautiful Sheep_ into Arthur’s hands. “You’re going to buy this and then walk straight home, understood?” It was a delicate affair, and therefore Arthur had to be as far away as possible.

“Okay,” Arthur agreed enthusiastically, then frowned. “But what are you going to do? You’re not… going to spy on them, are you?”

“Don’t be silly, Arthur. I’m just going to have coffee.”

“But--”

“Just do as I say.” The good thing about Arthur was that he usually gladly obeyed even when he had no idea what was going on.

Of course Carolyn wasn’t going to _spy_ on anyone. She was just going to make sure that everything was all right. It was her duty as the CEO of MJN Air, really. She had had the misfortune of witnessing Martin’s abysmal attempts at flirting, and clearly the boy had no idea what he was doing. And he was so desperate to be appreciated—it would be only too easy to take advantage of it. What if this man left Martin with a broken heart? Martin might crash the plane. Or mope around the flight deck and inflict his bad mood on everyone else. 

She just had to ensure there would be no negative consequences for her company, that was all.

She left the bookshop, walked to the end of the street, crossed, and walked back towards the café. She found a table that was partly obscured by a potted tree, but it gave her a good view of Martin and his young man. If only she could remember who he was – she was sure she’d seen those ridiculous ears before.

She moved her chair a little to the right to be more hidden by the little tree, but she was beginning to think that any attempts to be inconspicuous were unnecessary; the two seemed to be too completely engrossed in each other to notice anything else. They were indeed holding hands on the table, the man was talking and Martin was giggling. It was strange to see him like this, relaxed and enjoying himself. Clearly they’d been together for some time, then – it would have taken Martin a while to stop being a bundle of nerves. Not for very long though, since they were obviously still in the mindless infatuation stage. They were both dressed to impress (although it was a rather pitiful attempt on Martin’s side) – so perhaps a one month anniversary? Carolyn had to admit that his boyfriend did look rather dashing; _his_ clothing wasn’t a size too big and washed out, and it hadn’t been cheap either – Carolyn had an eye for these things. So Martin had not only got himself a boyfriend, but a rich boyfriend.

And then Carolyn remembered. Not just rich, but very rich. The man that Martin was being disgustingly lovey-dovey with was former client. She was sure of it now. They had taken him to America or somewhere. _How_ could Martin Crieff date someone who was able to hire a private jet? Wasn’t dating passengers against those principles of professionalism that he was so obsessed with?

She was so flummoxed for a moment that at first she didn’t notice the waitress who’d come to take her order. More shocking than Martin seeing a wealthy passenger was the reason why Carolyn took so long to recognise Henry Knight. He seemed so different from the shy, sad, anxious man who’d hired their services. He looked happy now, younger and more self-assured. And wasn’t that exactly the kind of change that had been happening to Martin for the last few weeks, only Carolyn had been too busy to notice?

Henry lifted Martin’s hand and kissed his knuckles. Carolyn rolled her eyes. Did they imagine themselves in a nineteenth century novel? Martin was certainly pale and destitute enough for a Victorian heroine. That thought reminded Carolyn that there was a great advantage to Martin having a rich boyfriend – she no longer had to worry about finding a way to pay him. Martin would probably have some kind of fit and insist that an airline captain couldn’t be supported by his partner, but with any luck it would be Henry and not Carolyn who would have to deal with that. And if Henry couldn’t take care of him, then he clearly didn’t deserve him.

He looked like he was very keen on taking care of him, however. Martin had already inhaled his chocolate tart, and Henry pushed his own cheesecake towards him. Carolyn saw Martin shake his head vehemently, but evidently Henry took that as a signal to scoop up a forkful and feed it to him, and while Carolyn would readily agree that Martin needed someone to feed him up a bit, this was bordering on ridiculous. But then again, it was Martin. What could you expect?

Martin snatched the fork from Henry and finished the cheesecake himself, while Henry watched him like… Carolyn couldn’t really describe like what, but it made her seriously doubt that he could ever take advantage of Martin. Still, one never knew. It was a good thing that Carolyn still had Henry’s contact information, so if he ever hurt Martin – and thus made the atmosphere in her workplace intolerable – she could find him and turn his life into hell. If anyone doubted she could do that, they could go and ask that horrible person who had cheated on Arthur and ensured that nothing had been brilliant for over a month. 

After more giggles and besotted smiles, they paid and got up to leave. For a moment Carolyn thought Martin would see her, but Henry whispered something in Martin’s ear that made Martin go bright red. Then he laughed and planted a quick kiss to Henry’s lips, and they stayed pressed together for a brief moment, grinning at each other like two people who’d decided to have their brains surgically removed. They kissed once again and left, hand in hand.

Carolyn looked after them until they disappeared around the corner of the street, and it took her a while to realise that she was smiling. Well, a Martin in love was much less likely to notice a little rule-bending and corner-cutting, which would make everyone’s lives a lot easier. Carolyn had ample reasons to feel pleased.

She couldn’t explain what made her return to the bookshop and buy _Opera for Dummies_. Probably just a momentary lapse of reason caused by having to watch two grown men behave like characters out of a Disney romance. Nothing to worry about.


End file.
